13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Card skimming scam takes on new twist

Card skimming scam takes on new twist

Richard Essex/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - A new twist on an old scheme is making the rounds. Criminals are using credit card skimming machines to steal your credit card information.

The skimmers are typically attached to the slot where you put your debit or credit card. The machine reads and stores the information, giving the criminal full access to your money.

The devices blend in, making it hard to tell there is anything different about the card reader.

"You have to take a close look, because the people that are making these devices are making them to blend into the electronics that are already there," said Carmel Police Lt. Jeff Horner.

Several police departments in Hamilton and Marion counties believe one man is behind several skimmers in the area. They have video of the man leaving an electronics store after using a stolen debit card number - numbers he got without putting a finger on the actual card.

"The skimmers can actually take that code, retain it in a memory, at which time the suspect can retrieve the skimmer, download the information to a computer, then again download that to an encoder, which will put that code on a magnetic strip, then they can either apply it to a blank card or an existing card that has had the strip taken off," IMPD Sgt. Thompson explained.

The person operating the credit card skimmer is betting on the fact that when you take your credit card and put it into that slot, you are not paying attention.

"But I think if people take the time and actually look a little bit closer before they use that credit card device," Sgt. Thompson said.

Police say the trouble with credit card skimmers is that all the hardware and software needed to make them are readily available on the Internet and, in some cases, at local stores.